i wandered lonely as a cloud

 

 

 

 

Summary and Analysis by Wordsworth

Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Poem
• Stanza 1
• Stanza 2
• Stanza 3
• Stanza 4
• Key Thoughts: Imagery
• Poetic Devices
• Further Reading
Introduction
The lyric I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud or Daffodils by Wordsworth is taken into account to be one among his best poems in times. The poet narrates a little incident during which he got a chance to ascertain an enormous number of daffodils during a valley.
The poem consists of 4 stanzas having six lines each. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABABCC and therefore the main theme is that the great thing about nature.
Poem
Save Wandered Lonely As A Cloud Poem by William Wordsworth Published by English Summary
Stanza 1
In the first stanza, the poet says that he was wandering lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and Hills. The phrase refers to him being roaming around with no purpose. He was on their lonesome sort of a cloud that floats high within the valley.
Usually, the clouds aren't alone, but here the poet probably refers to a fraction of the cloud that moves among the hills within the valley. Unlike the clouds that are filled with rain and thus move in purpose, this fragment has no particular direction to manoeuvre and just roams around above the valley.
While roaming within the valley he suddenly sees a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils. The words crowd and host mean an outsized number of individuals. Hence the poet uses personification and attributes the human qualities to daffodils.
The poet calls daffodils golden instead of yellow so as to precise their majesty and wonder. Consistent with the poet, he sees an outsized number of daffodils beside the lake, beneath the trees i.e. alongside the shores of the lake and below the trees because they're small.
The daffodils seem to be fluttering and dancing within the breeze. Again the poet personifies the daffodils by showing them as flapping (wings of birds or in imaginations that of angels) and dancing (like humans) within the moving breeze.
In a way, the poet imagines as if the daffodils possess the qualities of both thus of the planet and therefore the Meta world. Hence this is often the instance of juxtaposition in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
Stanza 2
The second stanza begins with the comparison between daffodils along the lake and stars within the Milky way. The poet says that the daffodils stretched in a never-ending line Along the margin of a bay. The bay here refers to the lake.
According to the poet, the daffodils which covered the shore of the lake appeared to be unending just like the stars within the sky and like them (the stars of the Milky Way), they were too twinkling.
The phrase Ten thousand saw I at a look may be a hyperbole meaning the poet saw an outsized number of daffodils which he couldn't count. The daffodils were Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The word head here refers to the highest flower a part of the plant.
Sprightly dance means lively and jubilant dance. The daffodils were thus moving their heads (flowers) during a rhythm that looked quite amazing and appeared to the poet as they were dancing.
Stanza 3
In the third stanza, the poet brings within the waves waving within the lake. The poet says that the waves beside them danced, but they out-did the sparkling waves in glee.
The line means there have been waves too which appeared to be dancing within the lake, but the joyful dance of the daffodils was much better than theirs. And for a poet like Wordsworth himself, their joyful company was the last word source of delight and ecstasy.
These lines somehow reflect the ideals of the Romantic Age and its theme return to nature. The last word source of joy for the Romantics was nature and its appreciation.
Hence within the poem, the poet concludes that seeing the daffodils dancing along the lake is that the dream of each poet including him and being there's like dream coming true.
And thus the poet gazed—and gazed i.e. kept depending on the daffodils and their dance. However, he couldn't fully appreciate the scenery before him. Wealth here means ‘happiness‘.
For the Romantics, nature and its beauty were the last word wealth and since it had been in abundance, he could deduct just a touch little bit of it though he kept watching them.
Stanza 4
In the fourth and final stanza, the poet says that while sitting on his couch (a quiet bench) and in vacant (when he's idle) or during a pensive mood (when he's sorrowful), the memories of these daffodils flash upon his inward eye i.e. his spiritual or the Romantic vision.
Their memory then becomes the source of joy in his solitude. His heart is then crammed with pleasure and dances with the daffodils. Thus the memory of the daffodils becomes his companion in his solitude and removing all his sorrows and tedium make his spirit dance with them.
Key Thoughts: Imagery
In the poem, the poet uses various things to explain the sweetness, joy and elegance of the daffodils. In stanza 2, he compares Daffodils with a galaxy of stars. In stanza 3, he compares them with the waves of the lake. The poet thus wants us to feel the sweetness of nature.
There is no use of materialistic examples. Throughout the poem, the poet emphasizes nature and natural things. And thus it's the entire rejection of the newly developed industrial world and an escape to nature and therefore the rustic world.
Poetic Devices
• Simile
o lonely as a cloud
o as the celebs that shine
• Hyperbole
o Ten thousand saw I at a look
o stretched in never-ending line
• Personification
o a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils
o dancing within the breeze.
o Tossing their heads in sprightly dance
o waves beside them danced
o inward eye